The Best Fall Lipstick Isn’t Lipstick at All—5 Insanely Flattering Alternatives to Try Now

From unintentional smudging to round-the-clock reapplication, there’s nothing nonchalant about perfectly drawn lipstick. Once you commit, you must do maintenance all day long. And while the reward of, say, a classic red lip often outweighs the inconvenience, there’s also beauty in a perfectly color-calibrated tint that’s a winning improvement on your natural lip color.

That’s where the season’s most exciting—and innovative—lip balms, stains, oils, and even liquid powders come in. When applied blindly en route to any destination, they sink right in, deposit a diffused wash of color that won’t bleed or melt, and condition against wind and chapping. Here, the five nourishing formulas worth stashing in the pocket of any tailored wool blazer or cozy puffer coat.

For those who don’t want to part with a traditional tube, legendary pro Pat McGrath’s luminous lip balms, which glide on like butter and come in long-lasting satin and shimmery shades, are so wildly flattering, it’s impossible to go wrong. Housed in sleek white and gold–trimmed bullets, they’re all the ammo needed for a chilly night on the town.

Makeup pro Gucci Westman’s creamy blush stick instantly wakes up a dull complexion—but it can also be pressed onto the mouth for a complementary pop of color. Infused with restorative berry flux vita and jojoba oil, it has been referred to in passing as the “lip tint of the gods.”

If you want to double down on head-swiveling color and a dewy finish, there isn’t a more fruitful pairing than Clarins’s Water Lip Stain and Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil; the former delivers lightweight, water-based pigment in bright jewel tones that go on as sheer as cellophane, while the latter adds a matching dose of color and coats the lips in protective fatty acid–rich oils.